CBH Talk | Joining the Clubs: Inside the Ethnic Power Centers of 1960s Brooklyn Politics

In 1960s and 70s Brooklyn, the borough’s political clubs were the temples of political power. Decisions made in those halls reshaped the borough’s political structures in ways that cleaved along racial and ethnic lines, specifically Irish, Jewish, and Black. Perceived threats became strategic futures. Pragmatic leaders reached across racial and ethnic lines. And successions were anointed and withheld based on practical changes in the borough’s electorate. This history is captured in dozens of interviews conducted by political scientist Jeffrey Gerson, which are now part of the Center for Brooklyn History archives.

Join Center for Brooklyn History to delve into the dynamics of 1960s and 70s Kings County politics: the changing coalitions between Irish, Jewish and Black leaders; the brokers, machine politicians, beneficiaries, those who came up through the political club system who were left behind; and how these political processes and power dynamics have evolved today. Highlights of recordings Gerson made in the 1990s will be followed by a panel discussion with three leading experts: political scientist John Mollenkopf, historian Brian Purnell, and writer and academic Ron Howell. The program is moderated by Jarrett Murphy, former executive editor of City Limits.